"No Dissertation Needed": Another Experiment in China... A PhD for "New Technology" Alone

Doctorates Granted for New Technologies and Products
More Than 20,000 Students Already Selected

China is drawing attention from the international scientific community as it begins granting so‑called "practice‑based (professional) doctorates," which recognize new technologies instead of dissertations. These professional doctorates are planned to focus on strategic industries such as semiconductors and quantum computers.

The British international academic journal Nature analyzed China’s professional doctorate programs in an article published online on February 5 (local time). The professional doctorate was introduced as part of an education reform drive launched by the Chinese government in 2010 to intensively train elite engineers. Under this system, students who create new technologies or new products, instead of submitting a dissertation, are awarded a doctoral degree. Chinese universities opened related programs in 2022, and in January last year the law was revised to allow doctoral degrees to be granted without dissertation review.

A bridge developed using pylon technology devised by an engineer who holds a professional doctorate. Screenshot from China Global Television Network (CCTN)'s Instagram.

Nature also presented concrete examples of the first cohort of professional doctorate holders. A civil engineering PhD holder surnamed Zheng earned his doctorate by devising a new construction method that allows pylons, which are installed on transmission towers and bridges, to be assembled like Lego blocks. Another student received a doctorate in recognition of developing welding technology related to vacuum lasers used in reactor manufacturing.

The professional doctorate was created based on the view that the existing degree evaluation system does not reflect reality. The argument is that engineering lies in the "problem‑solving ability" to overcome various obstacles encountered in the field, and that the capabilities of engineering PhD holders cannot be assessed through theory‑centered dissertations.

In relation to this, Guo Tong, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Southeast University, told the media that "students can solve real‑life problems in industrial sectors that are strategically important to China or are experiencing technological bottlenecks," adding that "the idea is to guide students to conduct substantive research."

According to reports from local outlets such as Xinhua News Agency, since 2022 more than 60 universities and over 100 companies have worked together to select more than 20,000 students for professional doctorate programs.

However, there are also concerns about the professional doctorate track. Professor Sun Yutao of Dalian University of Technology pointed out, "It is much more difficult to evaluate outstanding technologies than to select outstanding papers," explaining that "this is because it is hard to determine whether a particular technology will bring about a genuine leap forward for an industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.